Rugby: Foster not yet kicking himself

Ian Foster. Photo / Rotorua Daily Post

There is a touch of gallows humour when Ian Foster assesses the Chiefs' goalkicking woes ahead of tomorrow's clash with the Waratahs.

In the past two weeks, errant kicking has cost the side wins against the Cheetahs and the Hurricanes.

With Stephen Donald still out with a calf injury, Callum Bruce, who missed the penalty that could have snatched victory and ended the Hurricanes' playoff hopes, is entrusted with the kicking duties again.

"Callum will kick because against the Cheetahs we had nought out of eight and last week we had three out of seven, so I call that an improvement," Foster said, with a hint of the mischievous.

"If he'd kicked that goal with three minutes to go he would have been the hero and we wouldn't be discussing goalkicking so much, but clearly it is an issue that has hurt us the past two weeks.

"Callum is working hard on it and we've got to keep backing him on that. With Donald and [Mike] Delany out, I don't think now is the time to be chopping and changing too much more, but we've also got Dwayne Sweeney, who is doing a lot of kicking as well."

The Chiefs' barren run has left them without semifinal aspirations, but they can do New Zealand rugby a huge favour by playing spoiler.

A victory against the Waratahs would not only make it difficult for the Sydneysiders to reach the top four, but would also break the Chiefs' Waikato Stadium duck for this season.

They should not be short of ideas of how to upset the Waratahs - if they can organise a biting southerly and copy the Highlanders' blueprint, they should be halfway there.

"The Waratahs probably aren't the only team that doesn't want to go to Invercargill in May when the southerly comes. It's not the easiest place to play."

Foster is expecting a far more robust, physical presence from a "desperate" Waratahs, but having watched his side come close to toppling the Hurricanes, is confident his young team is up for the challenge.

"It was a pleasing game with a frustrating finish," he said of the loss.

"It was closer to how we wanted it to be and we think the last couple of weeks we've really gone up a couple of cogs."

Foster credits increased confidence among his inexperienced players as the reason for their minor upswing.

Guys like Jackson Willison, who in normal circumstances would not have been expected to play such a prominent role in their season.

"I'm not surprised because he's had a couple of years in the system with us and we've had our eyes on him since his days at Hamilton Boys' High School," Foster said.

"He's a player we've always had big wraps on, but it's just a matter of physically being ready and confidence-wise being ready.

"It's the flip side of having a lot of injuries - you expose the next group. Jackson's one of half a dozen players - Culum Retallick, Toby Smith, Ben Afeaki, Luke Braid and Tim Nanai-Williams - who are a nice core of players who are getting a lot of game time this year."

Lock Kevin O'Neill returns to the starting line-up for the first time since round one. He will join Craig Clarke in the second row, with Retallick moving to the bench.

Hamilton, 7.35 tomorrow

CHIEFS
Tim Nanai-Williams
Dwayne Sweeney
Richard Kahui
Jackson Willison
Jason Hona
Callum Bruce
J. Poluleuligaga
Colin Bourke
Tanerau Latimer
Liam Messam (c)
Kevin O'Neill
Craig Clarke
Nathan White
Hika Elliot
S. Taumalolo

WARATAHS
Kurtley Beale
Lachie Turner
Rob Horne
Tom Carter
Drew Mitchell
Berrick Barnes
Luke Burgess
Ben Mowen
Phil Waugh (c)
Pat McCutcheon
Kane Douglas
Dean Mumm
Al Baxter
Tatafu Polota-Nau
Benn Robinson

Chiefs: Aled de Malmanche, Ben Afeaki, Culum Retallick, Luke Braid, Brendon Leonard, Phil Burleigh, Save Tokula.

Waratahs: Damien Fitzpatrick, Dan Palmer /Jeremy Tilse, Chris Thomson, Dave Dennis, Josh Holmes, Daniel Halangahu, Sosene Anesi.